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Last night a few lucky Risdallians attended Minnesota Business magazine’s 2015 Community Impact Awards, which celebrates Minnesota companies that practice a strong dedication to giving back to the communities they are part of. Risdall as a Finalist in the Community Impact Awards As an integrated digital marketing agency, Risdall is able to give back to our community by using our various services in web development, creative design, public relations, strategy, branding and digital marketing. Risdall placed as a finalist in this year’s Creative Campaign category for our consistent work to improve the region by providing local organizations with monetary and skills-based donations. Recently, we

With 33 years of collective work at Risdall between Erik, James, Mariann, Steve and Zoe, these Risdallians embody the passion and loyal personalities that Risdall is known for. That’s 33 years of bringing our clients Growth Powered by Risdall, 33 years of neon lights and 33 years of making the donuts. In celebration of their anniversaries, CEO Ted Risdall presented these five Risdallians with a rose for each year they’ve spent with our team. “The anniversaries of Zoe, Steve, Mariann, James and Erik range from two years all the way to 17 years, and it’s exciting to watch these talented folks grow

In the 37th annual Minnesota Public Relations Society of America (MN PRSA) Classics, Risdall Public Relations placed as a finalist in five distinct categories: social media, institutional programs, special events/observances, marketing services and industry campaign of the year. MN PRSA Classics recognizes outstanding public relations campaigns and tactics from communications businesses and departments throughout Minnesota. The entries are peer-judged for their effectiveness in solving public relations challenges through creative solutions. What MN PRSA Classics Means to Risdall Public Relations The MN PRSA Classics are always an exciting time of year because we get the chance to formally celebrate our clients’

At the beginning of each quarter, Risdall’s staff members hold a Quarterly Review where they share the biggest highlights from the previous quarter. This quarter, clients in education, manufacturing and government dominated the conversation. Here are three of Risdall’s proudest moments from quarter four of 2014: BizRecycling BizRecycling is helping businesses start or enhance recycling and waste reduction programs. Under a new state law, most businesses in the Twin Cities must offer recycling for at least three types of materials by January 1, 2016. Risdall helped BizRecycling employ a media plan (in 2014 and 2015) encouraging businesses to recycle, and continues to assist the

As one of our biggest passions and areas of expertise, the education industry is a main focus for Risdall. We’re excited to announce a number of new education relationships that helped us enter the New Year with a bang. “Risdall now has a footprint in three of the nation’s 10 largest state university systems,” said Ted Risdall, CEO of Risdall. “With creative, public relations, advertising, web and digital experts, we provide our partners with a comprehensive solution for all of their marketing challenges.” Risdall’s Latest Higher Education Relationship One of the top 10 public research universities in the nation, The

Joel Swanson is wearing two hats this year as president of Risdall Public Relations and president of Minnesota’s chapter of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Joel has been a member of PRSA for the last 24 years, filling various positions within the executive committee and board of directors throughout his membership. The officer track for PRSA Minnesota is a five-year commitment, serving as secretary, treasurer, vice president, president, and immediate past president for one year each. “For me, it’s the culmination of more than 20 years of involvement in the organization,” said Joel. Even with a schedule filled to

It has been an amazing year of transition and growth for Risdall, and we’re poised for an extraordinary year in 2015. Our staff, strategy and growing client list have come a long way in the past 12 months. I’d like to start by giving thanks to my father, John Risdall. He founded this agency on the principle of giving clients what they want and need by drawing creativity from any and every communications discipline to help them make money, while also having fun in a prosperous agency environment. With the mantra, “It’s a party!” John’s integrated approach was ahead of

As we approach the end of 2014, we’d like to take a look at this last year and reflect upon the good times, memories and successes we’ve gained for our clients and the agency. At Risdall, we recognize that no one builds an ad agency alone. The support of our dedicated clients and hardworking staff members has allowed us to get where we are today. To all the individuals who worked with us to achieve success in 2014, thank you! Prosperity for Our Partners: Vision-Ease Lens – Celebrity Endorsement Vision-Ease Lens gained industry-leading coverage of its Coppertone Polarized Lenses, including

Each year Minnesota Business Magazine holds the Community Impact Awards to honor companies in Minnesota that place a high importance on giving back to their communities. For the magazine’s 2015 competition, Risdall was named one of three finalists in the Creative Campaign category for its strong devotion to helping families and children over the years. Risdall’s History of Community Involvement As a full-service digital marketing agency, Risdall is able to give back to the community in a unique way. Through a combination of monetary and skills-based donations, the agency helps non-profits and organizations in need. We have longstanding relationships with

Congratulations to Risdall and our clients! The results of the 2014 Mobile WebAwards competition are in, and Risdall’s clients received five Best in Industry awards! On top of the awards, Risdall was named an Outstanding Mobile Interactive Developer for taking home five awards this year. These wins demonstrate the talent of Risdall’s expert web development team, which stays on top of the trends in traditional and mobile website design. “It is an honor to be considered a digital leader among web design agencies in the Twin Cities,” said CEO Ted Risdall. “With changing communication comes changing technology, and we are

Just as the Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone, so have Risdall’s Movember moustaches. Our team gathered donations and grew their moustaches for the entire month of November to raise awareness for men’s health. The moustaches serve as ice breakers to spark conversations on important issues that affect men, specifically mental health, prostate and testicular cancers. To spruce up the moustache season around the office, we held a few friendly competitions where employees voted on three different types of ‘staches: the most professional, the thickest ‘stache and the most minimal moustache. We had two more awards for “Highest Number of Donors”

We’re celebrating a big win after learning The University of Texas at Tyler chose Risdall to be its long-term agency partner. The upcoming projects will involve all of the agency’s services, such as brand research, strategic positioning, online marketing and video production on the road to making UT Tyler the first choice for higher education in Texas. In the past, Risdall has worked with several schools in the higher education industry, including Brown College and McNally Smith College of Music, and we look forward to our work with the team at UT Tyler. Through extensive research, we’ve gained a full

The moustaches are showing and the donations are growing in our third week of the Movember fundraiser at Risdall. Our team has raised $680 so far, and with two weeks left, we’re on track to hit our goal of $1,000. Movember was created to spark conversations about health issues specific to men. For the month of November, participants grow and groom their moustaches, and only their moustaches, while gathering donations for their team. The neatly groomed moustaches unify participants, or Mo Bros, and provide an ice breaker for conversation topics that aren’t widely discussed. All donations support research for men’s

Risdall helped refresh Northern Star Council Boy Scouts’ brand and public image in the first year of its statewide Rocket Into Scouting recruitment event, culminating in a 43 percent enrollment increase from 2013 totals. In 2014, Northern Star Council strategically transformed Rocket Into Scouting from a multiple-date event into a single-time recruitment effort, where kindergarten through fifth grade boys who signed up for Cub Scouts and their families received a free model rocket to build and launch at the first pack meeting. Through the efforts of multiple Risdall services, Rocket Into Scouting enrolled 4,143 new Cub Scouts at over 700

The unique relationships between Risdall and our clients inspire us to create superior website designs that meet all of our clients’ needs… and win awards too. This year, 19 of those websites went on to win awards in the international WebAwards competition. On top of that, the Web Marketing Association recognized six of those victorious websites as best in their categories, meaning they had the highest score compared with all other submissions. Congratulations to all the winners! We pride ourselves on providing our clients with the latest technology and a team of industry-leading experts who love what they do, and when

Apparently this massive Superfund site has a street network, and one of these streets is called Main Street. (Coincidentally this polluted area almost became the site of the new Vikings Stadium until the team was able to squeeze more funding from Minneapolis.)

The Munitions Plant is in Arden Hills, a suburb next to Risdall’s city of New Brighton.

Apple Maps takes our clients to this toxic waste site when they ask Siri for navigation directions to “Risdall Advertising Agency” or even when they type our correct street address (city included) into their iPhones.Read More

The Webby health category recognition was for Allina Health’s “Screen to Prevent” website. This program encourages screening for colorectal cancer, the 2nd-leading cancer killer in the country.Read More

Few organizations relish disaster planning, but doing so is essential should a crisis occur.

Explore management’s three most critical issues: risk control, crisis control and reputation protection. Join three experts to explore critical management issues where they will provide key insights, ideas and wisdom you can use for protecting, preserving and promoting your company’s reputation before, during and after a crisis or disaster.

Understanding how humans interact with technology is critical in building websites that are easy to use. With this extensive background in cognitive systems, Colin Steinmann expands the capabilities of Risdall’s interactive team.

Colin recently joined Risdall as a front-end developer, and specializes in WordPress theme development using HTML5, PHP, JavaScript and CSS3 technologies. He pairs this knowledge with experience in information architecture and interactive design to create intuitive websites.

Risdall enjoyed its final and best quarter of 2013 with the addition of 22 new and expanded client relationships.

Many of the new client accounts include brand and strategy work to uncover marketplace differentiation, while leveraging the agency’s integrated services of digital marketing, advertising, website development and public relations. Read More

Crisis communications counselor James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA, was just named a Top 100 Thought Leader for his focus on constructive, ethical problem solving and managing the victim dimension of crises.

Lukaszewski, a Twin Cities-based national crisis practice leader was named to the top 100 list for the second year in a row by Trust Across America – Trust Around the World.

The organization annually conducts a survey to determine the list of global influencers who positively contribute to building trust for organizations, business and government, and in society. Read More

The awards recognize Minnesota companies and leaders that positively impact the community and have a superior history of giving back. Risdall was honored in the Long-term Achievement category for 10 or more years of giving to nonprofits and other worthy causes.Read More

Risdall added 17 new digitally focused clients in the 2013 third quarter across our interactive, brand management, public relations, and website development divisions.

“Winning two IABC Bronze Quill Awards and gaining Top Agency spot in the international WebAwards competition this quarter solidifies the continued success we bring to our clients,” said John Risdall, vice chairman and CEO of Risdall.

Here’s a sample of our new clients and the exciting work ahead:

Colorado Symphony

Colorado Symphony is the Denver region’s only full-time professional orchestra.
Risdall’s work will include website design and development.Read More

The contest is fierce – this year, more than 1,500 entries came in from 40 countries. Judges put each website under the microscope, testing and ranking it for design, copywriting, innovation, content, interactivity, navigation and use of technology.

By choosing Risdall, they let us into their workplaces, answered scores of questions about what they wanted out of a website and an agency, and then put us to work building their brands and web presence.

The 37 wins in this year’s WebAwards allowed us to earn the Top Agency award for winning more awards than any other agency in the competition.Read More

The Twin Cities advertising community lost one of its greatest innovators this weekend. John Olson, the founder of Olson ad agency, passed away this Saturday in his home following a battle with cancer.Read More

Strategic analyst Katie Usem joins agency as new account executive

NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (July 16, 2013) – Risdall Marketing Group (Risdall) announces the addition of Katie Usem as account executive. Usem is experienced in developing marketing strategies for new business, forecasting for business goals and managing client relationships.Read More

Agency expands client base across capabilities NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (July 15, 2013) – Risdall Marketing Group (Risdall) continued 2013 with a strong second quarter, adding 19 new accounts across its strategy, creative, online marketing, brand management and public relations divisions. New clients include Metropolitan State University, a Minnesota state university located in the Twin Cities, Midwest Dental, a dental clinic offering care to Midwest children and families, and Buerkle Automotive, an auto services dealership representing Hyundai, Acura, and Honda vehicles throughout the Twin Cities. “Risdall has had an exciting quarter working on diverse projects for our new clients including digital

Service Above Self Award honors Risdall’s dedication, time and talent to Minneapolis community and Rotary

NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (May 20, 2013) – Rotary International District 5950 recently awarded a Service Above Self Award to Ted Risdall, chairman and president of Risdall Marketing Group (Risdall) and member of Rotary Club of Minneapolis. Only 22 of the more than 3,000 Rotary members in District 5950 received this award, presented at the annual district conference held in Bloomington.Read More

WHAT:Risdall Marketing Group presents a special workshop led by Patrick Hanlon, author of the revolutionary book, Primal Branding. During the workshop, Hanlon will lay the blueprint for creating “zealots for your brand, your company and your future,” and provide the tools to develop a stronger, brand-yearning customer base. Following the presentation, attendees will see first-hand how primal branding builds a loyal following by examining several Risdall Marketing Group case histories.

Andrea Goodall named vice president and Laura Griffith becomes account supervisor NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (April 18, 2013) — Risdall Marketing Group (Risdall) announces two promotions among its senior Risdall Public Relations staff members, appointing Andrea Goodall as vice president and Laura Griffith as account supervisor. “Both Andrea and Laura have grown into leaders within the public relations department, directing client projects and using the nuances of strategy and tactics to create successful client campaigns,” said Joel Swanson, APR, president of Risdall Public Relations. “These promotions reflect their mastery of using an integrated approach of public relations and marketing to deliver results that matter for

I was lucky enough to attend the SMX West conference in San Jose, CA last month and hear from search industry professionals such as: Danny Sullivan – Editor of Search Engine Land, Matt Cutts – Google, Duane Forrester – Bing, and many more. I attended three days worth of sessions, spanning topics from content & social media strategies to link building, Google’s new Knowledge Graph and what’s in the future for SEO. Here are my main takeaways in no particular order: Content is KING Straight from the mouths of Google & Bing’s search police, Matt Cutts & Duane Forrester, content is the most important item on your website. If

PR Daily gives “Best Use of SEO” nods for Allina Health, CVS Flags projects as Risdall receives honorable mentions for SEO in PR campaigns. NEW BRIGHTON, MINN. (March 27, 2013) — PR Daily named two projects by Risdall Marketing Group (Risdall) as honorable mentions in its 2012 Digital PR and Social Media Awards. Both mentions were in the “Best Use of SEO” category, for Risdall’s work with clients Allina Health and CVS Flags. “PR Daily is an industry leader that recognizes the top work being done by agencies nationwide, and it’s an honor to be counted among the finalists,” said John Risdall, vice

Risdall Marketing Group

An independently owned, full-service advertising agency, Risdall is located in New Brighton, Minnesota, a suburb just a short drive north of downtown Minneapolis and convenient to St. Paul, as well. We are one of the largest, longest-lived independent ad agencies in Minnesota and the United States.